Not All Ladysmith Street Generals Were Boer War 'Heroes'

Everyone, of course, knows of Ladysmith, the Cowichan Valley Regional District’s northernmost community and winner of international awards for its heritage-themed main street.

Most people have some idea of its being named for a major battle in the second Boer War. But town founder and coal baron James Dunsmuir also paid homage to the South African campaign by naming 14 of his new coal port’s streets after British generals who led the charge, with varying degrees of ability and success, for Queen and Country.

What a mixed bag.

It’s not so much a matter of the good, the bad and the ugly, but more that of the competent and the not-so-competent. Not all senior officers are created equally. As an American general once said, in effect, being great is fine but being lucky is better.

And God help the general who snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

It seems that everyone these days is in the mood to second guess our pioneers. For me, this contagion of skepticism coincides with my finishing one of the best books I’ve read in a long time, The Scramble For Africa by Thomas Pakenham that sent me into my files on our local connections to the Boer War.

I invite readers to join me in a virtual tour of some of Ladysmith’s more fascinating streets and the historic figures they honour.

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PHOTO: The relief of Ladysmith by John Henry Frederick Bacon. —Wikipedia